Phone, internet corps SNUB US government's cybersecurity ABCs

Phone companies and ISPs in the US have convinced a top advisory panel to hold back the American government from forcing a set of basic IT cybersecurity standards on them.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set up a group of experts to figure out if the communications industry should be forced to adapt 20 "critical security controls", designed to stop or mitigate known attacks on computer systems.

But the panel informed the FCC in a report that there isn't a consensus among the key players that the recommended security checks are appropriate for telcos and ISPs - and that the commission should instead "encourage" companies to use them.

The report concluded:

While the 20 controls have been effective in guiding security management in enterprise and government institutions, the communications sector participants believe that some unique aspects of managing diverse multi-tenant communications networks will require additional evaluation in order to determine the extent to which the 20 Controls protect network infrastructure directly; as well as to determine the applicability of the 20 Controls to communications sector.

The full review can be found here [PDF]. Skip to page 15 for the 20 controls - they range from keeping tabs on the number of authorised and unauthorised devices to controlled use of privileged accounts.

The group - which included experts from state authorities and non-profits along with representatives from firms such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and Microsoft - said the FCC needed to carry out a further review of cybersecurity practices and what standards should apply to the comms industry.

The US government has said that the security of electronic systems and protection of national infrastructure from hackers are top priorities, but it's having trouble passing new laws without defining the standards companies should be measured against. The private sector is also resisting any attempts to turn voluntary standards into potentially expensive enforced regulations.

Last month, President Barack Obama issued an executive order for the establishment of voluntary minimum standards for any companies dealing with critical infrastructure.

The 20 cyber-controls came from secret lists of security measures that could stop known attacks on computers; the lists were compiled by government agencies including the NSA, FBI and the UK's Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG) and computer security companies such as Mandiant and McAfee. ®